Chi-nnati’s

Pizza was awful. i just read that they were closing which is exactly what I predicted.
Obviously, they never listened to their customers.

Good Chicago-​style pizza joint from a non-Chicagoan’s viewpoint. Very large restaurant in Kenwood with a huge U-​shaped bar, excellent layout with TV’s on the 3 walls of the bar. Very solid beer choices and very solid pizza. Fairly attractive interior, huge granite bar, lots of seating for both small and larger groups. My wife and I have been there twice, I’m not a deep-​dish fan (I’ll take mine thin– NY style and BTW, fold it in half like any decent New Yorker so the grease doesn’t dribble down your chin and onto that nice shirt & tie). However, both times we agreed the deep dish pie was really tasty.
The price of pizza is not cheap, about 20 – 22 bucks for a medium –but– you’ll end up eating half between 2 people and taking the other half home, so not bad value for 4 meals if my math is correct. We ordered the medium «All-​In» this time around (your basic loaded-​up meat/​veggie pie) and it is large– cut into 8 pieces, all we could eat comfortably was 4 pieces.
The only reason I won’t give this 4 or 5 stars is the service is definitely less than stellar. First time I was there we were waited on by an absolute weirdo who acted like our entire group had 3 heads each and he wished he were anywhere on earth but serving us (PS we’re well behaved, calm and cool). We saw him last night as well, and we’re still waiting to see what he looks like with a smile. It’s clear the owner/​GM doesn’t understand (or care) what outstanding service and attentiveness is, or how it can impact his restaurant. Dude, make your people get a system together of table service, and stop taking 45 minutes to make your pies!!! Too long for pizza, we’re not ordering chateaubriand and bananas foster!!! I’ll give your place one more chance but that’s it if you don’t up your game on service.
PS Where on earth they came up with this name is beyond me. Were they trying to pick the worst conjunctive bastardization of the words Chicago and Cincinnati?

I went to Chi-nnati’s based on a review on Reddit, saying they had the best deep dish in town. Well, I stopped by at 2pm on a Saturday, and the first thing the server said was that the deep dish took 40 minutes if we wanted to order it. I had my daughter with me, and I knew she wouldn’t last 40 minutes, so we ordered appetizers and a salad. We had the Chi-​dippers, chicken fingers, and a spring salad with bleu cheese. Like others had mentioned, the dippers crusts seemed like a flaky pie crust, sprinkled with parmesian cheese. They were good, but not what I was expecting.
My daughter, who eats chicken fingers like a fiend, didn’t take to their’s, and said that they tasted funny. I tried one, and there was something different about it. It wasn’t the breading, but the meat didn’t taste right, quite chewy. My salad was fine, and that was the only really saving grace of our meal.
The service was slow, and there were a lot of dirty tables, as if we had just missed a rush, but no-​one was scrambling to clean them. My daughter, who is usually oblivious, noticed the dirty tables and floors. If I’d noticed it when we walked in, we wouldn’t have stayed.
I’m going to try their deep dish sometime, but it’ll probably be a carry out order.

I had visited around the time they first opened. The only details I remember from that encounter was 1) it took a long time for the deep dish pizza, and 2) I’ve had better.
But I decided to give it another go, thanks to a $ 7 off coupon in the mail.
The deep dish pizza is pretty good. I like the sauce and the pepperoni and the cheese. The weak part of the pizza for me is the crust. For some reason it reminds me of pie crust (and I do mean dessert pie, not pizza pie).
While not as good as the best deep dish pizza I’ve ever had, it is still pretty tasty. And as with other deep dish, I love getting full from a few pieces and taking the rest for leftovers (I’d argue it is actually better the next day).
My only real complaint with this visit was the server. He was quite slow (and I don’t mean the cook time for the deep dish). Also, the word incompetent comes to mind, though I guess I’m being a bit too harsh. I showed him the coupon prior to ordering. And gave him the coupon before he brought out the check. Yet still the check came without a discounted price. So I pointed it out and had him go back to adjust it. When he returned it was with a check for a completely different amount, order and table. Turns out he accidentally charged someone’s (much more expensive) order to my credit card. So then it was a big ordeal trying to get that voided and re-​charged with my actual order and the discounted amount (which he had to get someone else to actually show him how to do). Luckily I was in no hurry that night.
Bottom line: go if you have a coupon (seems a bit expensive for pizza without it), and hope you don’t get my server.

Overall, not bad. The pizza crust could use some tweaking. Taste and texture a little like frozen (it may be). Pizza sauce and toppings are good.
The real winner at Chi-nnati’s is the hot dogs. They carry Vienna brand dogs. These are the real deal Chicago dogs from the windy city itself. I have not seen them outside of the Chicago area until now. If you go, I recommend visiting Chi-nnati’s for the Hot Dog selections over the pizza. «Just Sayin»

Here’s the first 5 star review for Chi-natti’s pizza (and I’m not even ashamed to write it). I too cut my teeth eating deep dish pizza in Chicago, and was reluctant to visit Chinattis even though it is merely a few miles from my new house. Why, you ask? Well, I trust Unilocal to guide my gastric adventures, and based on the reviews from a bunch of former Chicagoians, I balked at the idea of being disappointed. It seems people walk into Chinattis thinking to themselves «this is not Lou Malnattis, so I’m going to hate it.» Trust me, that’s how MOST Chicaogians are. Objectivity, be damned!
I ordered my pizza carry out so I cannot opine on how rude my waitress may have been, or how the temperature in the restaurant was two degrees too cold. Nope, I went straight carry out.
Now, about the pie: This is a solid Chicago deep dish pizza. The crust is very good. The cheese tastes perfect and is nice and gooey. And the sauce containes plenty of diced tomatoes. My only complain is that they don’t offer giardiniera as a topping. If all of other reviews weren’t from a bunch of cry babies, I would probably give them four starts. But five it is! Good job guys. I hope others don’t avoid Chinattis the way I once did.

I came here for a friend’s birthday dinner. I checked out their website prior to going, and though it looked pretty ghetto from their pictures, it actually has a very well decorated dining space with a nice atmosphere.
For appetizers, we had classic bruchetta and garlic bread. They are both mediocre. The bruchetta was a little too sweet and bland, and the garlic bread tasted like Kroger garlic bread. My friend ordered a cocktail and it tasted like too much alcohol was added.
As for the entrée, we ordered two deep-​dish pizzas. We had wait for about 40 minutes as it was baked to order. However, the pizzas were just not deep enough for me. It tasted like any other pizza. I ordered a «meat freak,» but I could hardly taste the meat. It was as if the pizza dough sucked up all the meat flavors; same thing for the «all in» pizza my friend ordered.
My girlfriend and her sister really enjoyed their veggie deep dish, however.
Overall, I would rate the space and service a four star, the food would be a two star.

I used to be the biggest proponent of Chi-nnati’s (if I ever got around to that review before: 5 stars)…not anymore. A few months ago they changed the recipe (i.e. cheapened) for their deep dish crust, and I wanted to give them one more chance last night, but they failed. The pizza was even worse than last time with the crust thin and broken apart, AND they’re pulling that 14oz. ripoff «pint» glass move. After the first beer, I switched to a bottle, and that had a huge frozen chuck of beer in the middle.
There are plenty of better pizza places to go to in Cincinnati, sorry Chi-nnati’s, but go for pizza elsewhere.

I was hesitant to try Chi-nnati’s for a long time because of the awful Unilocal reviews and, let’s face it, the horrible name. Yes, I get they were trying to be clever but it’s pretty stupid. Then I learned that they deliver to my house and I thought, why not, let’s give it a go. It can’t be any worse than Papa John’s.
And actually… the pizza is really good! Yes, more expensive than Papa John’s, etc., but you get what you pay for. The deep dish is REALLY good. I like that their menu is extensive and I can also get a great salad along with my pizza. Their delivery service has always been prompt and friendly as well.
I’ve had real deep dish Chicago pizza and yes, its better, let’s face it, but this is a close second and well worth it IMO.

I’ve only been here on Wednesdays and apparently it’s the best day to go here because of the Buy 1, Get 1 Free pizza deal. This place is ideal for groups wanting to get a lot of pizzas to try out. We paid for 3 medium pizzas and got 3 for free. I really loved their thin crust pizzas, especially the chilli cheese one. Their deep dish pizza is also OK if you’re into that. I liked the deep dish better the next day rather than freshly made. Be ready for a LONG wait for the pizza, but there’s booze so it’s A-​OK.

Chicago, Chicago that toddling town
Chicago, Chicago I will show you around — I love it
Bet your bottom dollar you lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago
The town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down
–Frank Sinatra’s «Chicago»
To understand this review is to understand someone who:
A) Family is from Chicago.
B) Spent more time eating pizza in Chicago than anywhere else in the world
C) LOVES CHICAGO and her pizza
So, I was just unimpressed with Chi-nnati’s. This place is no Giordano’s. I wasn’t in the most amicable mood when I was there either, but I digress. The pizza to me was just okay. No bells, no whistles, doesn’t make me reminisce about chasing squirrels down Maplewood drive at my grandfather’s house when I was like, 4 years old.
The restaurant itself is a beautiful ginormous building in a great area. Not sure it needed to be that big, but you do you, Chi-​nnati. As I said earlier, the food was just okay, the sausage wasn’t the Chicago deep-​dish famous sausage that I’ve come to love. The service was just okay, everything about the experience was just that: Okay. I get better service and tastier food at Chicago Pizzeria Uno. I was recently reminded that I ordered a pizza that had blue cheese on it and maybe that’s why I didn’t like it, but even the crust didn’t have that Chicago + Paula Dean = buttery-​esque flavor I know and love. I might give it another go, but not until I get more of Polly Campbell’s list knocked out.

Here’s a confession: I hadn’t been to Chi-​Nattis until last week, and I’ve still never had the pizza. It’s on my list of things to do, it just hasn’t been done yet.
However, I went for Happy Hour the other day and experienced exactly what I’ve read about in the reviews: decent food, nice atmosphere, terrible service.
Chi-nnati’s is a very large restaurant with a Applebee’s type feel (that sort of down-​home comfortable atmosphere that always feels a little fake to me. Like they’re trying too hard to make you feel that this is a warm and welcoming spot.) There are tons of tables throughout the spot and I imagine that even during the busiest times, it wouldn’t be too hard to get a table.
We sat and there was almost nowhere there at about 5pm for a meeting. I was told by the person I was there with that all the beers and appetizers were half off, plus they carry a really nice selection of craft beers! Nice! … Only they were out of a bunch of their beers that day. Um, ok, not so nice.
I went with a Great Lakes and it came out quickly. We also ordered the «Chi-​Nattis Dips» with all three sauces, which were fried bits of dough with artichoke, marinara and chili-​ranch dipping sauce. The dough was actually kind of gross (it just tasted like flaky nothing), but the sauces were pretty tasty. I wouldn’t order it again but I’m glad I tried it.
And then, once those were delivered, we never saw our waitress again! … Or perhaps that’s just the way it felt. We kept wanting refills or to ask questions and even though there was almost no one else in the room, she never stopped. She’d even walk by, we’d all out to her and she’d keep walking. Yikes.
At the end, our check was incredibly wrong. There were at least nine items put on there that wasn’t ours. She must have just printed it and dropped it on our table without checking. However, when it was all taken care of, it was incredibly cheap, like $ 20 for a bunch of beers and the food.
So it seems like a good spot to watch the game and maybe have drink or some food, especially during happy hour. Just know what you’re getting into.

Did I not already review this? Oh, it was probably just in my head!
I bought a Groupon for this place and let it expire, but my sister was in town from Houston and we were in the neighborhood so we stopped in for a quick bite.
We started with cheesy garlic bread, which was quite nondescript. My sister and I decided we could easily make this at home.
We both ordered thin crust pizzas. I think my sister got mushrooms. I ordered pepperoni, nice and thin in hopes of finding a replacement for my beloved Vic Cassano’s. Vic Cassano’s had the most incredible, thin-​crust pepperoni pizza I’ve ever eaten. They were in business since I was young and then they decided to close shop. Trust me, tears were shed.
So I had very high hopes for a thin crust pepperoni pizza. It arrived and look a lot like something I would have been served in the high school cafeteria. It was pretty plain, but I took a chance and added a bit of salt. Cassano’s pizza crust had a nice dusting of salt, so I was hopeful. The salt helped, but in the end this pizza was nothing special.
Beer selection is always important and Chi-nnati’s has a decent selection. It’s not every restaurant I can walk into and order a Dogfish Head 90 minute, so kudos there.
Overall, however, I would not go out of my way for pizza at Chi-nnati’s.
Perhaps with a group of friends or co-​workers it might go over well. It’s got a decent party atmosphere, not that I noticed at noon on a week day, but I can use my imagination. If I worked near here, I could see us dropping in after work for a drink and a pizza pie.

When I think of Chicago, I think of three things. The first would have to be ugly, unfaithful women (my ex was from Chi-​Town so I’ve deemed the whole place no bueno (she was also Hispanic)). The second would have to be the magnificent mile (FYI Chicago, I dread walking to the back of the grocery store to get milk so to think about walking a full mile to do some shopping sounds, well, not so magnificent). And the third is their pizza. Chicago has amazing deep dish pizza parlors and I’m pleased to say that Chi-nnati’s has brought a little slice of Chicago here to Cincinnati.
I’d heard several negative things about this place before going and after eating there a few times I can honestly say that everybody is flat out wrong. Chi-nnati’s is absolutely money. Is it the best Chicago-​style pizza in the country? No. But guess what? We’re not in Chicago! I’d definitely go as far to say that it’s way better than anything else Cincinnati has to offer (Uno’s or Mio’s).
A few things to keep in mind when dining here. The wait time for pizza is around 40 minutes. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about this but keep this in mind — every pizza place in Chicago makes you wait this long too. Why? Because your pizza is 3 inches thick! Also, the pizza may seem kind of pricey. But in actuality, two people can easily split a 10″ pizza and be more than full for less than $ 20. If these things don’t bode well with you then do yourself a favor and hit up Little Caeser’s Hot-​N-​Ready for $ 5. But if you’re patient and you have a job then come to Chi-nnati’s and treat yourself to something nice.
Also, 7 days a week they do happy hour in the bar. From 3 – 6 all drinks and appetizers are half price. This is an amazing bargain for some great apps! I’m partial to their buffalo wings which turn out to be under $ 3! And on Wednesdays all their pizzas are buy one get one free! I went there today and got two ginormous deep dish pizzas for $ 17.95. Coincidentally, I’ll be eating pizza for the next week. And also upping my dosage of cholesterol pills.

The service was good, but I didn’t care much for the food. It didn’t have much taste to the pizza and it’s pricey.
I will not be coming back here again.

I want to like this place. I do.
Let’s start off with the name — HOW DO YOU SAY THAT? No one, seriously, no one says it one way and it’s just confusing and I just resort to calling it the pizza place in the old Mexican restaurant behind the high school. I’m not reviewing on that, but seriously, if you know how to pronounce this, help me out. Please?
The interior is nice — I don’t sense any of the old Mexican restaurant that was there while I was in high school. It’s nice inside.
But the food. I just don’t like it. I want to. I keep trying it. But I don’t like it.
The garlic bread is good — better than most — but I can’t go to a place to eat garlic bread, especially when Penn Station’s is better. The pizza (I have only done thin crust, deep dish is just way too much for) is nothing special — iffy sauce, okay cheese, and bad, bad, bad crust. And greasy. The italian beef sandwich was way too dry, fatty, and relatively tasteless. Their bruschetta just is not good in my opinion, neither the traditional nor the veggie kind. I just wouldn’t ever order it again.
This place is in my little hometown, but I don’t know, I just can’t ever find anything I like here.

3 Strikes and You’re Out!
In the entire time I’ve been posting reviews on Unilocal,I’ve only handed out one, one-​star review. So though I’m stingy about doling out the five-​stars, I’m equally as stingy about declaring that a place downright sucks.
Congrats, Chi-​nnati! You’ve become the second one-​star review I’m giving.
My and the hot redhead GF were looking for a later dinner that was relaxed and probably wouldn’t have a long wait. When we arrived at Chi-​natti, we got exactly that. Win, right? Uh, not exactly.
We strolled in about 10:20pm and found a comfortable booth, as there were plenty to choose from this time of night. Then the crap began. We were immediately informed that we needed to make our dinner choice ASAP by out waitress – who was more interested in getting us out the door than anything else (maybe she had a rockin’ party to attend; who knows?), as the kitchen was closing in approximately 10min.
Their posted hours were until 11pm. But they don’t advertise that the kitchen closes a half-​hour before that? So for that last half hour of their evening they become, what, the worst bar in town? Strike one.
Not really being able to look at the menu adequately, we play it safe and order something that both the hot redhead GF (a vegetarian) and I can agree on. The pizza, to their credit, comes out in a timely manner, which is should have as we were the only people eating at this point.
However, in the waitresses’ hurry to kick our butts right back out the door, she forgot our silverware. Not so much a problem for eating pizza, but serious problem for the hot redhead eating her salad. Strike two.
Ever had that feeling while you’re eating that the Rockwell (w/​Michael Jackson on background vocals) song «Somebody’s Watching Me» should be playing? Yep, that was the dining experience here. And trust me, it wasn’t just the waitress hawking us at this point. Highly uncomfortable. After hawing us long enough (apparently for her) the waitress darts over and drops the check on the table. Not so much as a «thank you» either. One problem: we were barely half-​way into our meal.
Strike f’ing three! Chi-natti’s, you’re out. Won’t be coming back to your establishment ever, if I can help it.

A lot more Cincinnati than Chicago. Cincinnati is not known for great pizza (think LaRosa’s) and, unfortunately, Chi-nnati’s is not much better. I’d been wanting to try this place for a while as I’d heard from a couple of people that it was good. So, when a Groupon came up a while back, I bought. Finally, we had an excuse to try it.
I ordered the deep dish Mediterranean (sans green peppers) and the BF ordered the all-​in deep dish. I also ordered a side Caesar salad, which was actually the best part of the dinner. The pizzas are pretty big and the small size was more than sufficient for me with lots of leftovers (I ate two pieces). The BF ordered the medium, which could have fed at least four people. The server warned him it was pretty big, but he definitely wanted the leftovers.
We were both looking forward to it as a good pizza is hard to find in Cincinnati. The BF liked his and deemed it way better than LaRosa’s (but then what isn’t). On the other hand, I only found the pizza to be mediocre at best. The crust had a funny taste that reminded me of frozen crust (not fresh or flaky). The chunky tomato sauce on top seemed like it was thrown on after that fact and didn’t taste like it had been cooked in any form since before it was put in the can it surely came out of.
I love deep dish pizza and have always been a huge fan of Giordano’s in Chicago (it’s my favorite). Pizzeria Uno was always good, too. Those restaurants both serve flavorful, decadent pizzas with deliciously flaky and very tasty crusts. Not so with Chi-nnati’s. A huge disappointment.
The service was friendly if somewhat inattentive. I hate waiting a long time for the server to bring the check or ask if we need boxes when we are obviously done eating. The place wasn’t crowded (it was a Tuesday night), so, I’m not sure what it might be like when it’s busy. The restaurant interior is nicely decorated and they were playing some great 80s music. The have some TVs placed around the restaurant, although a couple looked to be in odd, difficult to view spots. The space is large and looked like they could easily accommodate a number of large groups. We were seated at a booth that surely could have sat at least 4 people on each side.
Overall, I might consider a return trip as maybe it was just an off night food-​wise or to try another menu selection. They also serve a thin crust pizza, so maybe that will be something I try in the future as it surely can’t be any worse than the deep dish. If you want a good pizza in Cincinnati, go to Dewey’s instead. If you want a good deep dish pizza, go to Chicago.

Based on one visit, I’m perplexed by the hostility toward Chi-nnati’s in some of these reviews.
Some of the comments are directed at service, which obviously can vary from one visit to another. The server during our visit, though, was perfectly fine, so call the service up-​and-​down. I also see complaints about waiting times, but the reality of deep-​dish pizza is that it takes 30 or 40 minutes to bake the things; this warning is on Chi-nnati’s menu, and the same warning appears on pretty much all the menus at deep-​dish places in Chicago.
And in a town with generally terrible pizza, a town in which cyberbuckets of cyberink are spilled in praise of relatively average pizza like Dewey’s, Chi-nnati’s deep-​dish pizza actually qualifies as one of the better pies in town. The crust is slightly off – it’s not quite as light and flaky as it should be – but otherwise it stands up quite well to some of the excellent Chicago-​style pizza I’ve had in Chicago itself. Really fresh and flavorful tomato topping, seemingly decent sausage and cheese, etc. It’s miles better than the deep-​dish garbage at Uno’s. Prices were very reasonable for the massive size of the pies: three of us with healthy appetites ordered a large for $ 20 and had a third of the pizza left over. (Maybe the thin crust, which Chi-nnati’s also offers, is poor, but the reviews complaining about the pizza don’t really mention that.)
Speaking of Dewey’s, Chi-nnati’s otherwise seems to have xeroxed Dewey’s business plan: modern, streamlined, somewhat industrial décor, but bordering on the sterile; better-​than-​average salads for a pizza place (but not as good as Dewey’s); and a good beer list. One problem is that the restaurant is not often likely to fill the cavernous room – formerly home to the mediocre Mexican, Jalepenos – with customers, leaving the place empty-​feeling and energy-​less.
My biggest complaint about Chi-nnati’s so far is probably the restaurant’s unwieldy dumbbell name, which sounds like something the proprietors settled on at the end of a drunken late-​night bull session.

Update: bartender not particularly friendly. Pizza very slow to come out even though restaurant is empty. Refused to substitute any ingredients. Instead, they offered to remove ingredients, then up-​charge to add new ones. Small pizza is way overpriced and adding ingredients is too expensive.
I think I’ve gone here for the last time.